Supreme Court Extends 30% Women Reservation To Bar Councils Of Telangana & Andhra Pradesh

The bench of CJI Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi was hearing applications seeking directions for extending its earlier order for earmarking 30% reservation for women in State Bar Council elections to the Bar Council of Telangana.

Previously, the Court directed that that 30% of the seats in the State Bar Councils - where elections are yet to be notified- must be represented by women advocates.

For the present year, the Court ordered that 20% of the seats should be filled by way of election of women members, and 10% by co-option. The Court directed that a proposal for co-option be placed before it with respect to councils where the number of women may be inadequate.

Today, BCI Chairman Advocate Manan Kuamr Mishra, at the outset, submitted that Telangana's first phase of the Bar Council elections has started.

Sr Advocate Shobha Gupta, appearing for the applicants, informed the bench that the election notification is yet to be issued on December 20.

The CJI, agreeing with Gupta, added that if a notification is to be issued on December 20, the election nominations will begin only from December 29.

Gupta added that the election notification for the Andhra Pradesh Bar Council is also not out.

Considering the same, the bench proceeded to modify its December 8 order and clarified that elections of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh Bar Councils will be included in Paragraph 6 of the order.

The bench order: " paragraph 4 of our order of 8th Dec is liable to be corrected, consequently it is accordingly directed that bar councils of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh shall stand deleted and councils of both states shall be included in para 6 and 7 onwards."

Paragraph 6 of the December 8 Order stated :

"So far as the remaining Bar Councils are concerned, it is directed that 30% of the total seats in the State Bar Council shall be represented by women members of the Bar Associations. Out of these, 20% be filled up by way of election and 10% by way of co-option. A proposal regarding the co-option of the women candidates shall be placed before this Court. Wherever the women members of the Bar do not come forward to contest 20% seats to be represented by them, the process of co-option in such Bar Councils shall also be undertaken for the remaining seats to ensure that the women members get 30% representation."

The bench was also informed about the issue of non-cooperation of bar council members. The CJI said that it was crucial to have a formal felicitation of elected women members of the state bar councils.

"We would request the BCI and Mr Manan Mishra to invite all the elected women members throughout the country and to have a felicitation function for them."

Notably, the state bar elections have been divided into 5 phases, as per the recent schedule laid down by the Supreme Court :

Five-Phase Schedule :

a. Phase 1 – Uttar Pradesh, Telangana — to be completed by 31 January 2026

b. Phase 2 – Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Tripura, Puducherry — to be completed by 28 February 2026

c. Phase 3 – Rajasthan, Punjab & Haryana, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Karnataka, Gujarat — to be completed by 15 March 2026

d. Phase 4 – Meghalaya, Maharashtra — to be completed by 31 March 2026

e. Phase 5 – Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Assam — to be completed by 30 April 2026

Counsels for the applicants in the two IAs were : Advocate Lavanya; Adv Narendar Rao Thaneer and Advocate Amol B.Karande

Case Details : IAs YOGAMAYA M.G. Versus UNION OF INDIA AND ORS.W.P.(C) No. 581/2024